Tug Fire Off Okinawa Kills Chief Engineer, Five Rescued

One person died and five others were rescued after a fire broke out aboard the tug Cebu-Hope off Miyako Island in Japan's Okinawa Prefecture on 30 Oct 2026. The 237GT vessel was approximately 37 kilometres north of the Ikema Island lighthouse, en route to the Philippines, when a ship agency employee reported the blaze to the Japan Coast Guard at around 08:15 local time. A coast guard aircraft from Ishigaki located a liferaft drifting about 300 metres east of the burning tug at around 09:30, and a helicopter hoisted its five occupants—all Japanese adult males—between 10:00 and 10:24. None were reported injured. Patrol vessels from Miyakojima and Naha responded alongside special rescue personnel from Haneda, three of whom boarded the tug around 15:50. At around 16:10 they found the 65-year-old chief engineer unconscious in the engine room with severe burns and confirmed he had died at the scene. The fire was declared extinguished at around 17:20, and the coast guard is interviewing survivors as part of its investigation into the cause. The Tsuneishi Group said the tug, formerly named Shojin Maru of Kambara Tug and Marine Services, had been transferred on 16 Oct 2026 to an unnamed Philippine-based associated company within the group. It departed Onomichi on 27 Oct 2026, with all six crewmembers belonging to the contracted delivery company. The tug berthed at Hirara Port on Miyako Island on the morning of 31 Oct 2026. The group relayed the coast guard's assessment that there was no risk of an oil spill. AIS data listed the tug under the flag of Mongolia.